The Muse Waits for No One

~ Laini Taylor

You know how you're in the middle of charging through a scene and you don't really want to stop for any interruption in case the Muse decides to go play with someone else?

^ Current situation as I make the leap from act 2 to act 3 of Before I Remember You.

So I'm just sharing this inspiring TED talk by Lisa Bu before I bounce back to the manuscript. Enjoy!

QOTD:

"I have come to believe that coming true is not the only purpose of a dream; its most important purpose is to get us in touch with where dreams come from, where passion comes from, where happiness comes from. Even a shattered dream can do that for you."

This is incredibly important. Don't give up on your dreams no matter how shattered or bruised they may be! They are what make you stronger and more resilient. Find a way to fix that dream, and protect it with all your heart.


Joyce ♥

The Value of Dreams in a Numbers-Driven World

A friend and I caught up over coffee the other day, where we talked about how jaded we were doing work that wasn’t what we fully believed in or what fuelled our actual dreams, and how our creative efforts were being overshadowed by the demand for tangible returns.

Basically, in the corporate world everything comes down to profits. Revenue. Sales. Site traffic. Everything quantifiable in numbers, in other words. But what if you’re someone creating things that can’t or shouldn’t be quantified with numbers, how then do you measure success or worth?

Sometimes it seems like you just can’t win. That art will always come secondary to profits. What good is an ad or campaign if it’s not going to generate sales? What’s the point of an article if it doesn’t resonate with X number of people and they’re not sharing it on social media? We’re told that dreams are worthless until they can be realised, that our art is only as valuable as the amount of money it can be traded for. We start to internalise this yardstick and whip it out when deciding if what we’re creating is good enough. 

And I think that’s the reason people give up on their creative dreams. Nobody sees the value in what they produce, so they think it’s pointless to pursue it.

But really:

It’s such a waste when people give up on their creative dreams because they think their dreams have no place in their environment or society they live in. My dad, for instance, gave up on art school because he thought it was more important to seek gainful employment to help the family. Till this day, he wonders how things might have worked out differently if he had studied design communication like he wanted to.

There is always a place for our art. For more art. And there are people out there who might actually need it, or at least enjoy it. I think as artists (I’m defining this word here as anyone with dreams of creation), we tend to forget that. We think that being in a numbers-driven world what we can offer is of little or no value, or that what we do will always be under-appreciated.

But as long as there is one person out there who believes in your art and your creation and your dreams, then it is your duty to keep producing work to sustain not just them but also – and more importantly – yourself. 

This post by Laini Taylor bears re-sharing. Seriously, read it. It will change your life.

We artists are needy! We need constant reminders to keep fighting the good fight. It’s why most artists I know have motivational messages stuck all over their computer screens or walls

This is what's on my wall.

Or occasionally turn to books like 

And

To reignite that spark in themselves.

Sometimes, I think it might be easier if I were an analytical, logical ENTJ. But then I think, Nah, I wouldn't give up my penchant to dream or any part of my creative life just so things would be easier. Being an INFP may be more complex, but it is also very rewarding.

Don’t get me wrong. I understand the need for numbers and weekly reports. They are the most straightforward way to assess the merit of a project, or track the performance and growth of a channel.

But the world also needs artists. People who dream. People who create. It’s the only way humanity can move forward. Sounds grandiose, but I do believe artists, innovators, creators and dreamers are the ones who ask the “right” questions. Not “how much”, but “what if” and “why”.

So if you’re asking those questions and constantly thinking of new ways to tell your stories – be it in a novel, a poem, a song, a dance, a painting, a photo, an ad, whatever – just remember that the world needs your stories, and you owe it to yourself to make your voice heard. 

And if you think no one out there appreciates or cares about your art, for what it’s worth there’s always me, rooting for all the artists dreaming big and fighting to leave their fingerprints on the world.

So go forth and unleash your art, and guard it with your life.

How to Lead an Inspired, Creative Life

Some days, creativity can feel like an elusive creature always ducking out of our reach. And some days, we are just too burned out by reality to pursue any creative endeavour.

What is creativity anyway? The textbook definition is "the use of imagination or original ideas to create something". But I see it as finding ideas from life itself, then weaving them into a bigger dream and making that a reality.

And that's why creativity can seem like such an illusory, abstract thing. It's hard to turn new, imaginative ideas into reality if you can't notice them around you because you're too busy or tired. Creativity is something that requires passion, devotion, and ample space to explore and ruminate.

[Related Article: 8 Simple Ways to Start the Day Right]

So if you're looking for new ways to be inspired and break out of your rut, here are some ideas:


1. Change Your Scenery
You can't come up with new ideas by sitting at the same spot every day. Get up and head somewhere different from your regular hangouts. Maybe try a new cafe in another neighbourhood, a different outfit (maybe swap your Little Black Dress for flared jeans), or take a different route home from work. You'd be surprised how a change of scenery can improve your state of mind!


2. Get Those Endorphins Pumping
Deadlines, reports, figures. Those things can drive a person insane - believe me, I understand. It is also soul-sucking and draining to do it every day.

If you feel like your creative well is drying out and you're itching to get back into the groove, clear your head of all those numbers and Excel documents and get moving. Even brisk-walking around your office building can help you re-calibrate. Exercise also helps to sharpen our minds, improve our productivity, and get the creative juices flowing again!


3. Break Out of Your Routine
Creativity can't thrive in an environment that is stagnant and routine. So try new things, gain new experiences, and expose yourself to new situations. Do something outside of the routine you know - be it trying a new workout or picking up a new hobby - and break your habits.





 
4. Fight For Your Space and Time

Creativity needs its own time and space. It's tempting to just go home and binge-watch Girls or go out for drinks with friends, but if you get too swept up in these activities that don't support your creative ventures. While you do need some down-time once in a while, creation only happens when you get cracking. So clear your work space and start creating!


 
5. Be Curious
Creating something from scratch can seem daunting, but not if you start with the questions "Why?" and "What if?" and let these guide you down uncharted paths. Curiosity is what drives any creative process, so have fun, start asking questions, and you might discover answers you never expected.


6. Jot It Down

Bring a pen and notebook everywhere with you. They're handy enough to whip out whenever a thought strikes you. You never know when inspiration for your next feature film or book might hit you, and you don't want to lose that thought because you weren't fast enough to capture it!


7. Vary Your Companions
If you only hang out with people similar to you, you'll share similar ideas and outlook. To be introduced to new perspectives and new ways of thinking, invite new people into your life who are different from you and have differing opinions. From them you can learn and discover new things that will help you grow as a person.


8. Head Out and Explore 

While holing up somewhere to create is crucial to getting anything done, you also need to get out and immerse in things that inspire you and feed your artistic soul. Take a day trip to the museum or art gallery, watch a play or recital, or go for long walks somewhere you haven't yet explored.


9.  Have No Fear!
Are you a perfectionist? Get over that! There is no room for that in creation - at least, not at the start, where you are just exploring every Shiny New Idea. The fear of failure is something that plagues many artists. But you need to give yourself permission to suck, make mistakes, before anything good comes out of the mess.

10. And Finally, Ignore the Naysayers
Artists are subject to all kinds of criticism, especially from those who don't see the value or worth in what they're doing. But birds in a cage think flying is an illness. Don't let yourself get boxed in by what other people think, or what they believe to be true or "correct". What's the status quo? Who decides? You have the power to create the life you want to lead without worrying about what the norm is. Normal is over-rated anyway.
 

 
Are you feeling burned out? What are some of your ways to get back into the creative state of mind and recapture your elusive creative genius?


This story first appeared on ZALORA Community. For more stories like this, head on over there!

The Write Life - Staying True to Your Craft

I've been hooked on TED talks by writers and creators lately. It was this particular one [Success, Failure and the Drive to Keep Creating] given by Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of Eat, Pray, Love that got me started. I come back to this speech every time I need a pick-me-up while lost in the wilderness of creation or in the pits of despair when things are out of my control.

In her speech, Gilbert talked about the struggles every writer faces: rejection, failure, feeling stuck in the same spot for years, being powerless in the publishing arena and facing things that are out of our control, like market forces and book sales.


On rejection and pushing through:

I failed at getting published for almost six years. So for almost six years, every single day, I had nothing but rejection letters waiting for me in my mailbox. And it was devastating every single time, and every single time, I had to ask myself if I should just quit while I was behind and give up and spare myself this pain. But then I would find my resolve, and always in the same way, by saying, "I'm not going to quit, I'm going home." 

And you have to understand that for me, going home did not mean returning to my family's farm. For me, going home meant returning to the work of writing because writing was my home, because I loved writing more than I hated failing at writing, which is to say that I loved writing more than I loved my own ego, which is ultimately to say that I loved writing more than I loved myself. And that's how I pushed through it.

On "going home":

... the remedy for self-restoration is that you have got to find your way back home again as swiftly and smoothly as you can, and if you're wondering what your home is, here's a hint: Your home is whatever in this world you love more than you love yourself. So that might be creativity, it might be family, it might be invention, adventure, faith, service, it might be raising corgis, I don't know, your home is that thing to which you can dedicate your energies with such singular devotion that the ultimate results become inconsequential.

On staying true to your craft:

The only trick is that you've got to identify the best, worthiest thing that you love most, and then build your house right on top of it and don't budge from it.And if you should someday, somehow get vaulted out of your home by either great failure or great success, then your job is to fight your way back to that home the only way that it has ever been done, by putting your head down and performing with diligence and devotion and respect and reverence whatever the task is that love is calling forth from you next.

I'm a born worrier. People around me always tell me to stop overthinking. So it's no surprise that I drive myself crazy going in circles in my head, thinking about potential outcomes (most of them not very pleasant) and obsessing over what I'm doing wrong to remain stuck where I am.

But I often find that losing myself in the story I want to tell not only takes my mind off these worries, it also reminds me of why I'm even doing this in the first place: because, like Gilbert, I love writing more than I love myself. It's something I would do even if I weren't getting paid for it; it's something I do when I'm happy or down or troubled or angry; it's something I will always do and can't help but doing because making up stories is already a part of me -- it's in my blood.

I think there are some people who wander in life for years, not knowing what their purpose is, and lucky the ones who find their calling early in life and therefore have years to work on it. So when you do find your calling, you need to hold on to it, nurture it, and keep in mind why you love it even when there are moments - many of them - when you feel like giving up.

So onward, storytellers. May you always manage find your way back home to what you love, and not waver in the face of failure.

A Single Girl's Guide to Being Happy this Valentine's Day

It's Valentine's Day this weekend. Which means a weekend of enduring the sight of couples wearing cheesy coordinated outfits and men presenting stuffed teddy bears to girls, as well as the barrage of commemorative photos on social media. #truelove4eva

Funny how it's been years since this occasion was first given so much commercial value, and people still buy into the whole fanfare.

Maybe I'm just a cynic, or I don't understand what it's like to be in love. But while I'm sure there's much to appreciate about being in a committed relationship with someone, there's also a lot to be thankful for as a twenty-something singleton.

As I navigate the dating minefield, I've also been collecting dating and relationship advice from well-meaning friends of mine (who have witnessed me at the height of an infatuation and suffered through my tales of unrequited interest, on my part and on the chaser's).

Here are some that struck a chord in me, along with other lessons I've learned on my own:

1. Know Thy Worth

If you make someone your everything and he only treats you as his something, it's going to end in tears. You expect too much. You want more. You start getting resentful. It's only going to wear you out in the end. And you deserve more than that.

So remember what you are worth. If the guy isn't putting in any effort at all, then he isn't worthy of you.


2. Focus on Being You



Nobody likes a wallflower with the personality of a sock. Be happy in your own company. If you don't even enjoy being with yourself, then you can't expect someone else to. So fill up your life with the things that make you happy. Have goals. Strive to achieve them. Start creating a version of yourself that you will be proud of. When you're so busy being you, you won't need validation from anyone else but yourself. And that itself is a powerful thing.


3. Take Your Time

While my Facebook feed is choked with pictures of friends and acquaintances flaunting their engagement rings, anniversary photos and even (gasp) babies, I feel like there are also many of them who are also single.

Sometimes, it can feel like this:



I don't see the point in going into a premature relationship and then half-assing it. "Trying out" with someone I'm not 100% into would eventually just wear out an INFJ like me. Like my friend Liz said, timing is important. If two people are at different stages of their lives where they are seeking different things, then it's likely that they will run parallel to each other and never meet, even if they do like each other. Tragic, but true.

So I guess time takes time. Better a happy singledom than an unhappy relationship.


4. Be Open ... But Have Some Standards

I've been told that my expectations are too high - a statement that I really don't agree with, by the way - and that you could have someone who ticks all the right boxes in your checklist (if you have one) but it still wouldn't feel right ... as Glamour's experiment below proved.

Girl Meets Her Perfect Match

That doesn't mean you settle for anyone who shows the slightest bit of interest in you. Rather, it's taking the time to know more people so that you understand what you're really looking for so that you don't end up rushing into a relationship.


5. Don't Sweat It



A rejection isn't the end of the world. A non-reply - or a curt, half-hearted one - may dent your dignity, but what doesn't kill you does make you stronger. Sometimes, you can do everything right and things would still not work out the way you hope it would. What are you going to do, mope and cry?

Once you start placing less importance on one thing, you're freeing yourself up to many other things. You're giving yourself the space to pursue other things, and saving yourself a whole lot of angst in doing so.

Besides, no one said you only had to go after one thing in life. And frankly, you have better things to worry about than why he blue-ticked you on WhatsApp.


6. But Don't Ever Give Up on Love



This one came from my dad. Despite all the horror stories we've heard about relationships gone wrong and people being screwed over by love, he still believes there's someone out there for me. And according to him, the worst thing you can do for yourself that would diminish your chances of ever falling in love is to become disillusioned by the notion of love.

So even if consecutive lacklustre dates and humiliating rejections may convince you that you're better off alone after all, I guess the key is to have faith that someday someone will appreciate you for being you, and vice versa. In the meantime, stay awesome and get comfortable with solitude.

What other dating advice have you received that you think is worth imparting? Share them in the Comments section below! I'm all ears.

This article first appeared on ZALORA Community.

mid-Jan - should we be worried now?!

Mid-month.

Two weeks into January, and things are taking shape.

Still too early to tell what that will finally settle into.

Still too early to be hopeful.

So baby steps. We'll get there.

Meanwhile on the writing front, I'm still plodding my way through Before I Remember You, and it is NOT PRETTY. Typically, I get about a third into a novel (about a hundred pages) before I start losing steam. But I'm only at page 30 and already I want to rewrite the whole thing. I probably should, right? Minimise opportunity cost and all that? Save it before it's too late? Or maybe I should just push through and emerge on the other side with a story actually figured out? I don't know! Where's the writing manual when you need it?!

But maybe this is the answer for everything in life:

Have a great weekend! :0)

post-christmas state

Reading this:

Image from Goodreads

This book makes me want to delve into another fantasy project! Leigh Bardugo has a knack for creating vividly imagined worlds, endearing characters with fully fleshed out back-stories, and quiet tension that keeps you flipping the pages way past bedtime. It's not hard to see why she has such a passionate fanbase, or why Six of Crows debuted at number one on the New York Times Bestseller List.


Watching this: 

Image from Drama Fever

My Lovely Girl (starring Rain and Krystal) came with mixed reviews. Some said the plot was too slow, and some loved the character development. But it's surprisingly engaging, with the sort of K-drama moments that I love (you know, the ones where the characters don't say a word and the music swells and you just feel all the feels and hear all the unsaid words? It's those moments where you feel yourself falling for a show and start rooting for the characters. Those are the moments I want to create in my stories.)

Plus, Krystal is always a joy to watch.

Girl crush!

Missing this:

Discovering this: 

His name is James, and he's the bass guitarist of the Royal Pirates. You're welcome.


Listening to this:

It's been two years since they debuted. Can we please start appreciating this under-rated band more already! I've raved about them here on ZALORA Community (yes, unabashed plug here), so I won't say more. Just give them a listen.


Writing this:

Receiving this:

Sigh. Into the Rejection folder this goes. But I am still beyond grateful for the feedback, even if this isn't quite the result I was hoping for.

Nothing like some heartwarming fan mail to lift your spirits and spur you on!


And lastly, finding strength in this:

Happy holidays! :0)

"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars."

I’m late to the game, but I finally caught The Fault in Our Stars last night. I’d been avoiding this book/movie because it’s not about one sick person in a doomed relationship but TWO. You know this story will only end in tears, and I just wasn’t in the mood for it.

But Ed Sheeran’s All of the Stars music video, as well as Birdy’s Not about Angels, drove me to watch it at last.

The last time I cried so hard over a movie … Shoot, I can’t even remember. Even though I might have cried six times throughout The Return of the King (because LOTR will always have a special place in my heart), I didn’t literally sob into my palms the way I had at TFIOS.

Thank you, John Green. And I know my tweet was mildly sarcastic

Finally caught #TheFaultInOurStars. Thanks for ripping out my heart, @johngreen. I didn't need it anyway. BRB bawling my eyes out.

— Joyce Chua Xiu Wen (@joycewrites2509) November 15, 2015

But really, thank you. For creating such a beautiful, tragic, but somehow uplifting story that sheds light on cancer and the battle cancer patients fight every day.

I’m generally not into books with insta-love (Twilight was a phase – we all have our inglorious pasts), because I can’t understand how people can fall so completely head-over-heels for someone so quickly. Crushes I understand – but love?

But I suppose for Gus and Hazel, with only limited time on earth, they would feel everything more keenly. Insta-love in this case is not only justified, but credible. I love how they bonded not over their illness, but over a book, and a huge part of the story follows them on their voyage to Amsterdam to find the author, Peter van Houten, who changed their lives. And their interaction felt so real, you feel like you ARE Hazel falling for Augustus.



I also really like Hazel’s relationship with her parents. It's not the "teenager wanting to be free and independent and hence rebels against the parents" trope you see in many YA stories. Hazel's parents are protective without being stifling, and they have an implicit understanding with Hazel that they're all in this together. It's so nice to see a loving relationship between the teenage protagonist and her parents for once.

After Gus's funeral ceremony, when Hazel just sat in her car, taking a moment for herself, I felt her pain. Her grief, her longing, her sudden emptiness. I missed Gus as much as she did. I missed his sweet and adorable text messages. I missed his bravado, his cocky smirk. I missed the reassuring smile he reserved just for Hazel. I missed everything about him.

But while the ending was devastating enough to bring even grown men to tears (what did you expect, right, with a love story of two terminally-ill patients?), it wasn't depressing. John Green gave Hazel – and us – closure with Gus's letter.

"Mr. Van Houten, 

I'm a good person but a shitty writer. You're a shitty person but a good writer. I think we'd make a good team. I don't wanna ask you for any favors, but, if you have the time (and from what I saw you have plenty) please fix this for me. It's a eulogy for Hazel. She asked me to write one and I’m trying, I - I just.. I could use a little flair. See, the thing is, we all wanna be remembered. 

But Hazel's different. Hazel knows the truth. She didn't want a million admirers, she just wanted one. And she got it. Maybe she wasn't loved widely, but she was loved deeply. And isn't that more than most of us get? 

When Hazel was sick, I knew I was dying, but I didn't wanna say so. She was in the ICU when I snuck in for 10 minutes and I sat with her before I got caught. Her eyes were closed, her skin pale, but her hands were still her hands. Still warm and her nails were painted this dark blue-black color and I just held them. And I willed myself to imagine a world without us, and what a worthless world that would be. 

She is so beautiful. You don’t get tired of looking at her. You never worry if she’s smarter than you cause you know she is. She's funny without ever being mean.
I love her. God, I love her. I am so lucky to love her, Van Houten. 
You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world, but you do have a say in who hurts you. And I like my choices. I hope she likes hers. 

Okay, Hazel Grace?" 

- Augustus Waters

*

I feel so much better now after getting this out of my system. I spent the remainder of last night completely zombified, useless with my chores, because TFIOS is one of those stories that reaches into you and wreck you from within.

Plus, John Green is such a lovely human being!

I'm officially a fan.

Next up, If I Stay. Already have it on my Kindle, along with TFIOS, so bring on another bout of the feels. Yay for YA fiction!

It's novel writing time!

So it's 1 Nov. The start of NaNoWriMo.

AM I REALLY DOING THIS?? What if this novel turns out to be the ultimate suckfest of all suckfests? The last novel took three rewrites, four rounds of edits, and a little more than a year to complete. Do I really want to go through this again??

There is nothing more daunting than a blank page with the cursor blinking expectantly at you. START WRITING. START WRITING NOW, it seems to say. And you quail in your bedroom slippers, because there are just so many paths your story can take. There are just so many ways this story can go wrong. So many ways it will drive you to tear out your hair and despair over its future.

But then you write with the end in sight. You think about the metaphorical pot of gold waiting for you at the end, and it is the only thing that keeps you going, even on days when you plod and trudge through the slush.

It's an arduous journey, writing a novel. You hold it in your hands, and you single-handedly direct the course of the story, dictate your characters' lives, determine how they will influence and transform each other. Everything that happens - every outcome - is ON YOU. Hey, no pressure.

But what even. We all know I will put myself through this anyway. Maybe not at a pace of 50K words a month, but that story WILL come out somehow, and it will take the time it needs. The first draft will inevitably suck, like first drafts always do, and maybe the second and third ones will too. But a story will be cracked out of those drafts, whether discarded or revised, and in the end it will all be worth the time and angst.

So soldier on, NaNo-ers!

Writing Inspiration for the Week

For when you lose steam:

For when you feel like giving up:

from lipstickandlacquer.blogspot.com

For when the ideas stop coming:

For when you lose sight of your goal: 

For when you need a no-nonsense reminder of why you write:

Here’s the thing about being a writer, or a musician, or an artist, or any sort of creative person. The ones who make it are the ones who make themselves do it. They’re the ones who practice even when it seems like they aren’t getting any better ... They’re the ones who send out query letters and hear no and they send out more query letters and they hear no again and they send out query letters and they hear no again. They’re the ones that hear no as not yet and nothing is ever a failure, it’s only a complicating plot point in the arc of their life. They’re the ones who realize that there’s no point tricking your way into publication, because the point is to write something other people fall in love with; that’s what being a successful storyteller is. They’re the ones who are hungry for it. No, they’re the ones who are starving for it.
~ Maggie Stiefvater

Happy creating! :0)